A Phoenix Will Always Rise
by deathgeonous
Summary: For your viewing pleasure, I present the most inane thing I have ever posted. Buffy meet the the Phoenix Force, I know you'll get along just swell.
1. DEATH IS BUT THE BEGINING

AN1: Well, I have had some serious writers block on all my fics, so I decided that I needed to do something both not related at all to anime in general and Ranma in particular for a while, and that I also needed to not do anything in the remotest sense serious for a bit. Thus this inane piece of work was born. I plan to be, while still letting it have a very viable plot that is both a good one and one that is very easy to understand, to have this be silly, impetuous, funny, downright idiotic at times and in general to write a truly and insanely inane piece of awesome work here, for I need the funny to drown out the shit hole my life is becoming. So, if you are willing to read a truly awesome piece of inane work, please, feel free to do so, and maybe even tell me if you like it. But if you don't, please feel free to forever keep it to yourself, HA!

AN2: My life is in the shits now, and if you want a reason for that, please read my Author's Profile page if you are reading this on Fan Fiction dot net.

AN3: This is going to be so heavily AU for the X-Men content that if Stan Lee read this, he'd have a coronary over my mangling of his baby. And I really don't care at all about that.

AN4: Version 2.0: Changed the name of the M'Kraan Crystal to its proper name and made some other minor corrections.

Disclaimer: I do not own the intellectual property that is Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of its associated characters, locations, items, ideas, or anything else that may be associated with it. Those belong to each of their own respective copyright owners. I do not own the intellectual property that is The X-Men, or anything else in The Marvel Universe, or any of its associated characters, locations, items, ideas, or anything else that may be associated with it. Those belong to each of their own respective copyright owners. I do not own any of the intellectual properties that are any other fictional persons, places or things. Those belong to each of their own respective copyright owners. I do not own any real person, place or thing. Those belong to either themselves, in the case of a person, or their real life current true owners in case of a place or object. What I do own is any and every original person, place or thing used in here as well as the story its self. Those very few things are mine. And that's all that ever will be mine.

A PHOENIX WILL ALWAYS RISE

PROLOGUE

DEATH IS BUT THE BEGINING

Dying, was in one Buffy Anne Summers opinion…

"Well, this sucks."

Yeah, that.

Buffy Anne Summers, age… um she'd kill me if I told you, the longest lived Slayer in the history of her world, and a suspected immortal due to, well the massive amount of magical bullshit she had been hit with throughout her life, was temporarily dead yet again.

"I hate this place, it's so boring here." Buffy complained with a small whine as she sat down in the large white room of nothingness. As she leaned back against a shining white wall that had suddenly appeared from nowhere, she said and asked aloud, "Ok, so what did me in this time?" When you have died and come back as many times as Buffy has, you tend to get a little…, well blasé, about the whole thing.

"Oh yeah, that stupid demon-hybrid thing-a-ma-bob wanted to open a gate to some fiery hell dimension after it nuked New York. Wow, that was first time I ever was blown up, and by a dang nuke in a friken fire hell dimension to boot. Well, I'm just glad I got that thing out of there while I could." Buffy then sighed again, and then she asked "But this was my what death?"

"Fifty two times you have died and come here in the past..." A voice sounded off in her mind.

Buffy stood up and turned in a full circle, while scanning the vast white plane around her for anything, as the wall she had been leaning against suddenly dissipated back into the nothingness that had spawned it.

And when she saw what was there, she blinked and replied with "Ok, nice big fire birdie."

The gigantic bird made of pink fire seemed to sigh as it shook itself. "You… uhg…. Buffy Summers, I really don't know how or even why it is that every time you die you end up here, however temporary your stay may be, nor do I know if I even wish to know, but… it is somewhat of a boon to me at the moment."

Now Buffy was nobody's fool, and she could tell that the beginnings of a desperate sales pitch was going to be made to her via proxy by her old friends Fate and Destiny yet again and after a very small sigh she asked "Ok Mister Fire Bird, what's the deal here and who do I have to kill this time?"

The giant pink bird made of fire seemed to blink and then stated "My name, or rather my title since I have no true name as it were Miss Summers, is The Phoenix Force. And I don't actually don't have a target for you to kill, but rather I have something for you do and protect."

"And what would that be?" Buffy then asked of the Phoenix.

The Phoenix sighed and then told Buffy "First, I think I need to give you a little bit of the back story as it were, so, please, bear with me here for a moment. This is my home that you are currently residing in. It is called by many names, but the one that the current wielders of its current physical manifestation know it as is the M'Kraan Crystal. I am its guardian, and I am charged with seeing that none misuse its vast power, for it has the power to modify reality itself if the user of it knows exactly what they are doing with it. It has been for the last three hundred and five years in the charge of a galaxy spanning empire, one that has had nothing but the upmost respect and fear for what it could do in the wrong hands and they have allowed nobody and no-one besides the ruler of their empire to even touch it, and every ruler in the past has taken a vow to never to use it for the fear of misusing it."

Buffy then butted into the explanation with "Let me guess, things have changed?"

The Phoenix nodded and then replied "Yes, there is now a new ruler for the Shi-ar Empire, and he is, well, he is quite frankly insane." The Phoenix said with a shake of its head. "Honestly, I just don't know… ah…" The Phoenix then sighed again and continued on with "Well, his sister, when he decided to break the most solemn vow of never using the M'Kraan Crystal for the fear of misusing it, assaulted her brother and stole the crystal and fled the palace, and then the Shi-ar Empire itself. And now she's almost to Earth and her ship is in, well, it's in bad shape and the forces that her brother set to retrieve her and the crystal are close behind her."

"Well, shit." Buffy sighed out.

"And now on to even more troubling news, well for you at least. The M'Kraan Crystal's physical manifestation is currently not in your native and home reality, but in a vastly different one, although it was briefly travelling through your reality the first time you came here. Anyways, the fact is, this is not the Earth that you know of that will soon be involved in this conflict, and so if you say no to my proposition, then you need not worry about the Earth of your reality being affected by any of this."

Buffy looked up at the big bird made of pink fire and said "Well, while I appreciate you being honest and forthright with me, can you stop with the theatrics and just make your damn sales pitch now?"

The Phoenix blinked again and then said "Fine. I am the guardian of this crystal, but I have no physical form outside of it. I am a being of pure, cosmic energy, and as such I need a host to work through to affect anything outside of this crystal, and I wish for you to be that host for me. Many times have you come in here in the past, and the crystal responds to your will almost as easily as my own while you are here, that, and from the things that I have overheard you say during you during your brief stays within this place leads me to believe that you would be an excellent host and treat the powers that being my host would bring responsibly."

"Ok, and the bad news now please?" Buffy asked.

"The bad news, as you put it is two-fold. Part one is that you would be bonded to both me and the crystal for the rest of your life, although two of the 'bad parts' of that already seem to be in place, as one, you already seem to be bonded to the crystal in some way, and two, well, um, you already seem to reincarnate yourself after you die, which would be one of the powers which you would be receiving from me. But two and probably more important is that you would be stuck within this reality, well until such a time that you learn to breach the walls of reality with both mine and the crystal's power."

Buffy then blinked and slowly asked "Ok, so you want to have me 'host' you, so that we can then leave this crystal, kick some insanely evil and evilly insane galactic Emperor's butt, and in the process, I'll gain a shit ton of power from you and if I'm reading this right get control of this M'Kraan Crystal and become it's like, one true owner?"

The Phoenix blinked yet again, and let me tell you, seeing a giant bird made of pink fire blinking once in surprise and confusion is incredible, but this many times? As they say in those commercials, priceless. Then the Phoenix said "Um, yes, that sounds about right, but not how I would have put it though."

Buffy then grinned and said, "Well then, sign me up."

If a giant bird made of cosmic, and pink, can't forget the pink, fire could face fault, or even knew what that was, it would have done so at this moment. "Um, not to question my good fortune at the moment, but I really thought it would have been harder to get you to agree to abandon your old reality to help save this one."

Buffy then smirked and then told the Phoenix Force "Phoenix, I can call you that can't I? Well Phoenix, you see, in helping you I gain my own freedom. I'm pretty much a slave to the Powers That Be in my home dimension, the PTB's are kinda like God's, um, janitorial service, they make sure that my home universe is kept clean and tidy. And after I somehow became sorta immortal, they, um, well, I won't go into it other than to say that that if I never have to go back there and deal with them, then it's all of the good. So let's do this so I can get on with a new life."

"Ok then." The Phoenix said after a mental short-circuit, while also vowing that its new host would never have to answer to these Powers That Be again, and said "Prepare yourself then Buffy."

EAN1: Ok, here's the prologue, and keep in mind that this is at its heart just supposed to be a light hearted and silly romp, but sadly, if I know myself at all, it will eventually and sadly turn serious later on. Sigh. But for now inaneness abounds and I hope you enjoyed this, thanks for reading this, bye for now.

EAN2: I am actually working on chapter one right now, so hopefully it will be up soon.


	2. FRUSTRATIONS ABOUND

AN1: Wow, four positive reviews from Twisting the Hellmouth in about six or so hours. Nice, for that was about four hundred percent more then I was expecting for such a silly piece of work. Anyways, here's the next chapter for your viewing pleasure!

AN2: Version 2.0: Changed the name of the M'Kraan Crystal to its proper name and made some other minor corrections.

A PHOENIX WILL ALWAYS RISE

CHAPTER ONE

FRUSTRATIONS ABOUND

In the blackness of space: inside of a really beat-up space ship

Lilandra cursed her stupid and insane, can't forget the insanity part, brother, and she truly cursed the blindly fanatical Imperial Guard that served him at this moment. Couldn't they see that she had only done what had needed to be done? Didn't they know just how unstable and insane her brother truly was? Didn't they care that what he had been about to do had been forbidden to all of the rulers of the Empire for as long as they had been selected as the Guardians of the M'Kraan Crystal? Obviously the answers to all of her questions were a big fat no as on her viewing monitor the head of the Imperial Guard appeared and stated "Princess Lilandra, please stop running and surrender yourself before I must do something that I will forever regret."

"Gladiator, I refuse to allow my insane brother to become even more of a tyrant then he already is by using the M'Kraan Crystal to further his mad schemes. And I am ashamed that you of all beings would so willingly follow his mad dreams. What has our empire come to?" Lilandra spat back in her fury.

"I must do as the Emperor wills my lady. And I will use force if necessary to retrieve the crystal and return it to the Emperor." The Gladiator sadly replied.

"Oh, it will be very necessary, of that I can assure you." Lilandra shouted out as she cut the transmission.

'Charles?' Lilandra mentally called out to the being that she had psychically reached out to while running in space. 'I really hope that everything is ready for my arrival, for I'm going to be coming in hot and fast with trouble right behind me.'

'I, and my X-Men, will be here, and we will be ready to help you when you land. I am sure that we can help you.' Charles Xavier reassured the frantic Lilandra.

Can anyone say, 'Famous Last Words?' I knew you could.

In some woods in upstate New York: about two and a half hours later

The Gladiator was rather pissed off at this moment. Lilandra had run to some stupid no name shit-hole of a backwater planet, they had only recently reached their own moon for the Emperor's sake, and she had somehow seemed to immediately find some willing allies to support her treacherous cause, and he really did not expect them to last that long. But sadly he was wrong.

While individually they were no match for him, together they were formidable enough to stall him for a good while, but now only three were left standing, the short one with claws, the tough female fighter and "BOOM!" The Gladiator flew backwards as yet another bolt lighting struck him in the chest, that damnable woman whom seemed to control this planets very weather. The Gladiator growled menacingly as he got up, this is a vastly underdeveloped planet damn it, why were the inhabitants so friken tough then.

As he batted the short one away into and through a tree, yet again, and after seeing the short one rise while his wounds quickly healed up, yet again, The Gladiator growled out in frustration and then his day got worse, if that was even possible, for the natives were getting reinforcements! That was all he needed!

Picking up a downed tree and chucking it through the primitive aircraft, he turned around and then he finally saw his target, Lilandra was standing next to a man in a chair, and why was he sitting in a chair in the middle of a battle field! With a standing woman and the downed foes he had already vanquished.

The world narrowed down to just him and her for him as he sped towards her in the air, only to resoundly crash into a force field. 'Argh! This planet shouldn't even have the technology necessary to make a portable force field generator! Let alone one of such strength!' He thought, but as he shook his head to clear it, he noticed that the force field, and the other female, suddenly fell.

Standing with a feral grin, The Gladiator stood up and advanced on his quarry, and he was no longer in any mood to be gentle, when two things happened, one was that the survivors of the downed aircraft appeared, which only hasted his movements, but two and more importantly was the fact that the M'Kraan Crystal suddenly leapt out of Lilandra's grasp and started to glow a bright shade of pink. Rushing towards the now floating crystal, he then stopped in wonderment as it started to both grow and change its shape from a glowing pink double fist sized rock and into a small, humanoid shape. And then with a flash, he was looking at what appeared to be a small female native of this planet that was staring at him with a rather blank expression.

The Gladiator growled in his now supreme frustration for the umpteenth time this day and shouted out "Who are you and what have you done with the M'Kraan Crystal!"

The small female blinked and then said "Oh, I'm sorry, but it looks like I now AM the crystal. Gee, thanks for NO explanation about that part Phoenix. Sheesh, stupid cosmic powers in their itty-bitty living spaces whom like to pull surprises out of their asses." The small, and obviously insane, female muttered. "Oh, and I am like, so not going back with you."

The Gladiator lunged for her, while shouting out "You will…" and then his shout was silenced, as the small females hand was in the shape of a fist, and protruding out of his back with his heart clenched in it. And as the light dimmed for him and his vision blurred, he heard her mutter out "Wow, I expected that to be a little harder. How much of an upgrade did I get?" And then all faded into the final blackness of death for him.

EAN1: Well, sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but honestly this was all I wanted to put in this chapter, I had just thought the fight scene would be a little bit longer. Ah well, what can you do? I'll introduce Buffy to Lilandra, The X-Men, and their oh so mysterious back-up in the next chapter. See you then!

EAN2: Yes, I supremely buffed up Buffy, and killed off the Gladiator in his first chapter. For one, it is of my personal opinion that those whom the Phoenix Force enhances only gets a few standard powers from it its self, and the rest of their power-up comes from whatever they had as powers beforehand. So, it this here ficy Buffy going to be like a mini-hulk, with access to cosmic fire, and a few other 'standard' Phoenix powers, such as, ah I'll just let you just discover them in the fic. And as to two, my killing off the Gladiator so easily and quickly, what can I say but the plot demands it. Thanks for reading this, and bye for now!


	3. INTRODUCTIONS GONE ASTRAY

AN1: You ever notice that when your really bad writers block just suddenly ups and disappears, that you just release a flood of fics? Well I just have. Enjoy.

AN2: Version 2.0: Changed the name of the M'Kraan Crystal to its proper name and made some other minor corrections.

A PHOENIX WILL ALWAYS RISE

CHAPTER TWO

INTRODUCTIONS GONE ASTRAY

On the outskirts of the clearing in which the fighting was taking place: a few moments earlier

Captain America just blinked in surprise as a glowing rock suddenly morphed into a beautiful young woman whom then proceeded to punch a fist straight through their targets chest and then mutter to herself. Striding forward, the paragon of patriots asked in a loud, battlefield hardened and commanding voice "Just what IS going on here!"

And then his life took a turn for the stranger, as his comrade in arms, the God of Thunder himself Thor did an obvious double take that morphed into a triple take and then with a quiet, well for him anyways, for most people it would have been in a slightly loud speaking voice, said "By the All Father Himself!" and then he rushed forward and kneeled, kneeled for the god's sake, and that was actually being quite literal in this case, to the small woman as she let the now obviously dead body slide off her arm and then he said "My Lady, why have you graced this planet with your presence? And why are you not residing within your plane of power? I do hope that you wish no ill will to the inhabitants of this planet, for I would detest having to fight one such as yourself, but if it be your will to do harm here, I sadly must try to stop you."

The strange woman blinked as did Captain America. 'Ok, Thor does NOT just bow down to anyone like this without a good reason, and if he's hoping to get OUT of a fight with the said person, then this might just end up as a really bad FUBAR of a situation if things don't go well. I so did not need this today.' Captain America then thought with a resigned mental sigh.

Buffy on the other hand was blinking away her own shock and asked "Um, I'm sorry, but who the hell are you and what's with this 'My Lady' crap? And that old English accent? I mean really it's the well, I'm not exactly sure what century it is right now exactly," Buffy said while looking around, "But it's gotta be at least at last the late twentieth, so why the hell are you talking like someone from the eleventh?"

Thor now blinked away his own shock and replied with "My name is Thor, God of Thunder and…" he had just begun when he was interrupted by the mysterious woman shouting out

"Thor, the Norse God Thor! No way! Why are you being so, subservient to me then? I wouldn't expect you to bow down like this to anyone but your father!" The strange woman shouted out.

'Well, at she least knows her mythology.' Captain America thought while he was trying to understand just what was going on around here.

"My Lady, are you not one of the multiverses great cosmic guardians, charged with the overseeing of the very nature of reality it's self?" Thor asked in a puzzled tone.

The strange woman blinked and then frowned and sighed in resignation and replied to Thor's question with "Um, yeah, I guess I am."

Thor blinked in surprise at the strange way that she answered him and asked "And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing my lady?"

"You are looking at the current and now permanent amalgamation of The Phoenix Force, The M'Kraan Crystal, and The Slayer, one Buffy Summers." The woman responded with a small grin. Thor could only stare in shock while unconsciously crying out in Old Norse an expletive that roughly translated itself into something like 'Oh you have gotta be fucking kidding me.'

Captain America on the other hand just looked towards the heavens in appeal and wondered just what he ever did to deserve days like this one, a feeling shared by all but one of the other members that were still conscious and watching this. This last one however was feeling something more along the lines of

"Please forgive me your greatness, I tried to keep my brother from misusing you and your power, I swear it!" Lilandra shouted out as she lunged forward and grabbed the woman by her waist while sobbing.

"Um, sure?" The woman responded in obvious confusion. The sobbing woman just decided to sob harder in response.

Captain America then harshly sighed and then he stated "I just don't care anymore, I'm letting Nick deal with this mess."

Logan, whom had surprisingly been at his side and unnoticed until now, then said "I'm with ya pal, just so long as we don't have to deal with this cluster fuck up."

And then Captain America just sagely nodded in response.

The Black Widow whom was behind the two could only gape in and with shock at the total out of characterness of Captain America's last few moments.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier: a few hours later

To say that one Nicklaus Fury was pissed off was like saying…. Well actually I can't think of another understatement big enough to do his current level of anger justice, for he was that absolutely livid.

First off he and an alien refugee Princess from a freaking galactic empire that could toast Earth any day of the week if it so desired, and with a pissed off, if she was to be believed, and which also he honestly did, ruler after her, or really what she had stolen from him to prevent 'Its' 'Misuse'. Next of all, her first contact on this planet was the god damn X-Men, and while he personally had no problems what so ever with mutants, well as a whole and on a personal level, for there were just some mutants he would absolutely love to introduce to a particle fusion reactor, but they were the exception and not the rule, but since mutants were as of this moment a very politically hot topic, and he had to bow to politics, however much he hated it. And with the nice alien princess having been saved by a team of them… Argh, just ARGH! Well then, on to the next point, sometime into the fight that the other alien was having with the X-Men, a news crew had started filming them from, and rather wisely for them, as far away as they safely could. It was actually how the Avengers even knew what was going on and where to go. And that was a headache in and of its self, but then the questions leading from that, well, it was a nightmare. And then there was her. Miss Buffy Summers as she seemed to wish to be called. Someone that Thor recognized as a being of such vast and great power that even a god wouldn't want to have to fight her, well not without a ton of back-up no friken choice in the matter as well for that matter. Well that was just GREAT in his opinion. Please do note the heavy sarcasm there.

It was times like these that running the biggest covert ops organization on the planet really sucked beyond all telling in his personal opinion, let me just tell you that.

And so, with all these thoughts going through his head, he went to go back into the interrogation room that held his newest great headache, one Buffy Summers, while a small sigh graced his lips and he thought 'You know, with a case this strange I really wouldn't mind some help. Wait a minute… THAT'S IT!' Then turning to guard guarding the door he said "I need to make a quick phone call, I'll be right back."

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier: outside Buffy's interrogation room: about an hour latter

Dr. Stephen Strange was no stranger to strange situations, pun very much intended there, but this was quite honestly pushing it. As Director Fury lead him to the interrogation cell holding a remarkably patient, in his opinion, and he had no idea on just how right he was, Buffy Summers, he was getting some much needed information about this case. "Ok, so to sum things up, this Buffy Summers claims to be a semi-immortal woman from another reality, only semi-immortal though because while she could be killed, she would always come back to life shortly thereafter. She then found out during her last death that she was going inside of this M'Kraan Crystal, which not only would allow it wielder to reshape reality as it saw fit to do so, but it also was the home of a being known as The Phoenix Force, and both the crystal and it's guardian are very well known to Thor, who still is in awe from all this, and she agreed to become one with this Phoenix Force to prevent the misuse of M'Kraan Crystal, which is now what her body is made up of, and she mainly agreed to all of this because she knew that by doing this she'd be stranded in this dimension for quite a while, because she really hates her old bosses, whom she claims were 'God's Janitorial staff'? And whom used her to clean up her home realities messes? Did I get the main gist of all of this?" Dr. Strange asked in a strangled tone.

"Yeah, that sounds about right, she was very forthcoming with all the details, and if she didn't have a freaking god vouching for her, as well as an alien princess, I'd call her crazy, but… Ah hell, you talk to her." Nick said as they reached the interrogation room.

After they entered, Buffy Summers looked up to them and said "Heya Nicky!" Then she narrowed her eyes and asked "Who the mage?"

Dr. Strange was quite stunned that she so easily identified him as a wielder of the mystic arts, but readily replied to her with "I am Doctor Stephen Strange, The Sorcerer Supreme, and I was called in to help on this case due to your claiming a mystical background, as well as the general 'strangeness' of this case, which is something I'm quite apt in" he said with a chuckle.

Buffy also chuckled and told him "Very funny mister funny man. So, why don't you do that voodoo that you do so well so that I can get the hell out of here without my having to kill everyone here?" Seeing the looks of shock and rage coming from the two men she huffed and said "I'm kidding! Geez, if I had wanted to get out of here that badly I would have done it hours ago, I mean, hello, you've left me in here for like, four or five hours now? I'm just the weeist bit cranky, but I am not homicidal." And then she muttered, "Well yet anyways."

Dr. Strange sighed while Nick Fury clenched his hands and then the good doctor said "I'm going to start with a reading of your aura, and then I'll move on to a few questions, ok?"

"If it would help get me out here faster, I'd listen to you sing bad karaoke while blindly drunk." See the looks of stupefied shock she sighed and asked "What, never heard of Karaoke? Ah well. Go ahead doc and do it" She then told him.

Now having her permission, he opened his 'Third Eye' as it were to see her in a mystical sense, and quite suddenly he started to scream in a loud high pinched voice for a few moments and then he passed out.

Nick was looking between both the Doc and Buffy while calling for a medic, when he heard her say "Damn I wish I could ask Phoenix what the hell's going on right about now."

"And why can't you?" Nick asked after getting word that a medical team was on its way.

"Because the stupid bird is too busy talking to Sineya to talk with me." Buffy replied with a huff.

"And just who is Sineya?" Nick asked with a frown as the medic team came rushing in.

"What, didn't I mention her, she's my inner demon." His frown told her that she hadn't mentioned that past of her story yet and she just shrugged and said "Um, opps? Well, while we wait for the great mystic one to awaken, can you take me to the cafeteria to get some grub, I don't know about you, but reincarnating myself always makes me so hungry, and I haven't eaten a thing since I have." And then seeing the sheer look of annoyance on Nick's face, Buffy asked in a clueless tone of voice "What?"

EAN1: Ok, so I promised it would be longer, and it was, and this is also is the longest chapter so far. But it was probably not long enough for you guys, eh? Oh well, nothing is really long enough for a truly dedicated reader. But still, it was longer and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, I know I did. I should have some more up as soon as I decide on just how to do a few things with this fic. Oh, and yay, I broke my record for having only two chapter Buffy fics, so, yay, go me.


	4. NEW BEGINNINGS AND PROBLEMS

AN 1: Thanks for all the positive reviews and such, and especially for the one from Lightspire, whom, since he had read this fic on a phone or something like that and couldn't leave an anonymous review, he decided to PM me one! And as to why I do not allow any anonymous reviews, on fan fic dot net that is, for some people have asked me to allow them, well, people flame easier when they don't have to leave their name. Really, I have no trouble at all with receiving flames, the trouble I have is with those who leave such things and don't even have the courage to do so with their site pseudonym. Jeez, it's not like I'm going to go all hacker city and track you down through the web using your site pseudonym and then beat you to a bloody pulp in your home after you leave me a flame. I mean, geeze, that'd be just really stupid. And a stupid amount of work as well. And to top it off I'd probably be in jail for the rest of my life for all of the laws I'd be breaking to do that. I count like at twelve broken laws that I know of there easily, and there is probably a ton more that I don't know of here.

AN2: If anyone knows the name of Lilandra's brother and the now current (at the point in time that this story is taking place that is) Emperor of the Shi-ar Empire, please let me know in a review or something. Thanks in advance.

A PHOENIX WILL ALWAYS RISE

CHAPTER 3

NEW BEGINNINGS AND PROBLEMS

In the vastness of space: Inside of the royal flagship of the Shi-ar Empire: on the Bridge

"Your Majesty! It has been thirty six hours since the last transmission from The Gladiator, and twelve hours since his last scheduled check in time!" A crewmember sitting in front of the commutations station of the ship's bridge shouted out,

"We see." The Emperor emotionlessly stated. "Then we guess that he has failed, although we cannot see how." He then coldly continued. "Regardless, we will have to find our wayward sister ourselves. Where was his last transmission from?"

"Here your Majesty!" Another crewmember shouted out while the large viewing screen at the front of the bridge started to show a large map of space with a red dot on it.

"Hmmm, that is in the middle of nowhere. Do you have any idea where he was heading?" The Emperor asked.

"No your Majesty! All we know is that he was following your sister." The captain of the vessel replied.

"Then find her, and quickly! We will not tolerate having her and the M'Kraan Crystal being out of our grasp for very much longer, are we being clear?"

"Yes your Majesty! Perfectly clear! Stratous, follow along The Gladiator's current course and find all habitable planets that Princess Lilandra could have taken refuge on for the next ten light years! Genith, determine if Princess Lilandra's ship in its condition could have traveled any farther than that and if so, just how much farther! We need to find her, now!"

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier: in the cafeteria

Lilandra just watched in awe, her own food long forgotten, as she simply absorbed the sight of Buffy eating. It was not her eating habits per say that shocked the stellar Princess, but the sheer volume of substance that she was packing away.

"So, um, Buffy was it?" Lilandra began.

"Yes?" Buffy warily asked between bites of her food.

"Would, would you tell me about yourself?" Lilandra hesitantly asked.

"Ugh, what's with all the people wanting to know all about little old me? Well, ok, as long as you tell me some things about yourself, deal?" Buffy replied.

"Um, deal." Lilandra answered back.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier: Nick Fury's office

Nick Fury was a master of multitasking, so it was no trouble for him to watch Buffy and Lilandra bond through the cameras in the mess hall, read the orders on his desk, and still fume about the said orders. 'How, I mean just HOW did Charles Xavier manage to get custody of BOTH Lilandra AND Buffy? And with a singed order from the President himself at that!' He wondered as he fumed, and then he signed off on the orders while watching Charles approach the two women and he thought 'I'll be watching you Xavier.'

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier: in the cafeteria

Lilandra and Buffy were now chatting back and forth freely, while Buffy was trying hard to tone down the awe that Lilandra held for Buffy and she was succeeding quite handily, when Charles Xavier approached them and said "Lilandra and, Buffy was it?" After getting a nod from a suspicious looking Buffy, Charles continued on with his carefully preprepared speech. "It is my honor to house both of you during your stay on this planet."

Buffy then interrupted him with the question "And just HOW did YOU get this honor?"

And in his office, one Nick Fury was listening in with anticipation on just how Xavier would answer this one.

Charles Xavier just seemed to chuckle and said "As it was I and my X-Men who had found you, well, we seemed to have gotten stuck with the responsibility of looking after both of you.."

"And why you? You, from what limited knowledge I have of this place, have no standing with the government." Buffy then asked with narrow eyes.

Charles Xavier then seemed to sigh and deflate a little and then softly whispered, no, no we do not have any standing with the government. To be honest with you, Buffy, may I call you Buffy?" Buffy warily nodded in response and he continued with "I don't know if you can understand this without my going into too much detail, if you wish I will go into much more detail for you later, but my students, the X-Men are all mutants. Mutants are, well, it has been theorized that mutants are the next stage in human evolution. They have some extra strands in their DNA that allow them to do things beyond the human norm. For a couple of examples, one of my students has a mixture of telepathic and telekinetic powers, and another can control the weather. These of course are some of the more powerful and extreme powers that a mutant can have. It could be something as simple as just having some slight physical differences, cosmetic only, to having vastly powerful abilities. The abilities of mutants are totally random, and it seems that even in families that produce a high number of mutants that in most cases their powers are all greatly different from one another, but getting back to the topic at hand, mutants are both feared and exorcized by most normal humans because of both the fear of what they can do and in my belief that they are slowly replacing them. I run a school where mutants can both be protected and can learn to use their powers, hopefully for the betterment of both humans and mutants. As to why I was given the pleasure of hosting you, well, since you still are in the government's care, and since they are going to occasionally to check up on you, both out of need and want, when they do so, they can also check up on me and my students as well. At least that's what I think. I was told that since I run a school that caters to 'A diverse and unique crowd' that I could help both of you settle into this world and teach you about it." Charles then ended with a sigh.

Buffy softened her expression and told Charles "Well, that sucks."

Charles then chuckled and replied to that with "It's not that I mind taking you in, or helping accumulate you to this world, but… I do wish that it was without the threat it could possibly bring to my charges. I promised them a safe haven, and now that safe have could be in danger."

Buffy then growled out "Not if I have anything to say about it."

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier: Nick Fury's office

'Mr. President,' Nick Fury thought to himself 'you are devious, cunning and I think that your deviousness and paranoia just made you and our government at least one if not two enemies.' Nick continued to think as he looked at both of his current 'Guests' who were teeming with outrage both on behalf of Charles Xavier's plight, and their own, which was that of being used to possibly hurt others. 'And Charles, good play to get them on your side, instead of ours.' Nick thought, and then he said aloud while going back to his paper work pile-up, "And this is why I HATE politics and politicians. They fuck things up trying to be, clever. Hrph." And then he started to read through his next document, putting all thought of anything beyond his current work aside.

EAN1: Uh, yeah, sorry about the long time to update, but, well, real life's a bitch that's still making me her's, I was trying to update some of my Ranma stuff without much success, and with this piece, the cafeteria scene just took forever to get even somewhat right. I mean seriously the number of revisions that that one scene went through is staggering. Sheesh. Well, I hope you enjoyed both the update of the new chapter and the revisions of the old ones. Thanks for reading this, bye for now.


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